T'was the night...

Before Christmas,and all through the house not a creature was stirring...

Except for the sewing mice!    What could be more perfect than a Blog Hop for Last minute gifts?  Yes The one and Only Madame Samm has once again out done herself!

Our Wonderful CheerLeader for this hop is Marlene from Stitchin By the Lake.  Had it not been for these two ladies I would probably been a sewing mouse again this year.  So I Thank both of you,Samm,for putting this hop together and Marlene,for being the perfect CheerLeader!

All the items created for this hop need to take only a few hours to make,from start to finish.  The first item on my list was a mini ipad case for a certain young lady who has been deployed and should be returning home to the states soon.  She loves purple...

The open wide zippered pouch from noodlehead.  For these I used some orphan blocks which made them an even quicker project to sew!  The one on the right was the first,and my measurements were just a bit off.  It still turned out cute though.

Stuck for ideas for those hard to sew/shop for guys on your list?  Why not make them a Tool Roll to hold all those wrenches and or screwdrivers?  I would recommend checking to see if your tools will fit before just marking the slots as directed in the tutorial.(ask me why;)  Since I did not have vinyl,this one is made with a fake leather exterior and some military fabric from my sons discarded Camos.  

These fleece hats sew up super quick!  If you need a tutorial there is a great one here.

How about a stocking wine bottle gift "bag"?  Be sure to adjust the size for your bottle so that it will fit into the stocking!

Since this Hop is all about Gifts...

(Photo courtsey of Madame Samm!)


Being first on the hop had its perks,like this Sweet Cuppa Cozie Gift from Madame Samm herself! (complete with mug) She made me the perfect gift!  As I have a very bad habit of making myself a cuppa joe or cocoa,and then getting distracted...  I have used it quite often already and am enjoying it very much,as it keeps my mug/drink hot for quite some time.

Thank You so very much Samm,the gift is not only beautiful but,fits me to a T too!  I Love it.

Okay I have kept you long enough off you go to see what the lovely ladies  sharing the first day of the hop have whipped sewn up for you!

Tuesday, Nov. 11

CeLynn’s Sunflower Patch (you are here)

Creativity Amongst Chaos

Stitchin’ By The Lake

Seams To Be Sew

Why Knot Kwilt

Quilting Quietly

Polka Dots,churn dash & Nutcrackers too

Although normally those three things have nothing at all in common,they do in this post!

Remember my July finishes post where I said that you would just have to trust that I had fabric cut for a couple Christmas projects?  Well last night there was actually a little sewing progress!

The polka dot fabric was purchased last year (I think)at Joanns,the Nutcracker fabric is from a couple years ago,and the white/Holly print has been in my stash since the late nineties!

These batik strips are for another project in progress,which I hope to have finished by Friday night.

Burnt cookies :(

Yep,that is what happens when you (I) have way to many things going on at once!  Thank goodness it was only the last 5 cookies!

No not these five,these are some of the good ones :)  The recipe for these can be found here the cookies in the recipe are Lime Shortbread cookies,but this week Mr. P asked me to make oatmeal cookies and just put the filling in them.

The rest of the Maxine goodies for my friend.  Napkins,coasters and also two napkin rings for the napkins.  The napkins are 12x12 instead of the usual larger size.

I also decided to make up a couple sets of hand warmers for her :)  They are filled with rice,and just the right size to fit in the palm of your hand.  A nice thing to have in your pocket after taking the trash out during the cold months.  Especially when the dumpster is a few hundred feet away.

These little ones are perfect for little hands!  I started out with 2 1/2 inch squares,so they ended up being a 2 inch square.  It seemed to take me forever to sew the openings closed on these 11 sets.  I am a very slow hand sewer.

They look big in my hand,but I do have small hands.  If I can find the time these will be listed in my etsy shop.

There were also a few other finishes this weekend,but I am saving those for another post.  Hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)

Fabric Lottery/Christmas came Early

Where did the week go?  Isn't that always the way,when you have a zillion things to get done,time just zooms by!  Are you ready for Christmas yet,or are you feverishly sewing gifts hoping to beat the clock?

At this point in time,I am somewhere in the middle :)  This dish mat is one of the smaller projects from my to do list,now it is on the tadone list ;)  I used another one of the huck towels that Gil brought home from boot camp a couple years ago,and gave to me to use as kitchen towels.  I cut it in half,which is the perfect size for my counter :)

If you wanted to make your own,you just need some 2 1/2 inch squares.  For mine I used 15 squares,5 of which are cut on the diagonal to make the edges of the tree.  The trunk is a 1 inch wide strip that is 5-6 inches long.  Sew the squares into strips and then sew the end pieces on each end.  Press the seams open  Starting with the bottom/longest row,place it RST/or wrong side up on the towel and sew it using a 1/4 inch seam.  Press towards the top of the towel,lay your second longest strip RST on top of the strip you just sewed,continue to attach your strips in this manner.  The top of the tree will be the last two triangles,sewn together,without any squares.

I used a decorative stitch on my machine to stitch around the edges,which attached the sides to the towel.  You could use a zig zag stitch,or applique too.

I have a friend that really likes Maxine (or as Jolene & Gil call her "the Crabby lady")  So when I saw this fabric at Joann's...  some of it became ornaments,some more of it will soon be napkins and napkin rings!  Hope she likes them...



                         ~ SPOILER ALERT JOLENE ~

A new set of pillow cases for Mr. P and I :)  Mine is the snowman print on the left,and the Santa/coke print is Mr. P's,these went on our pillows last night.

So,now that a certain young lady is not reading any further...  These are going in the package headed to J & K's (Jolene & her Hubby)  I found the little elephant pincushion pattern while on vacation this summer!  Although she is super busy,every once in a while she finds a few minutes to sew :)  The second item is a elephant book mark.

The pattern came from the Zakka Style book my sis gave me this summer.  Of course I changed it up a bit,instead of sewing it,I used heat and bond between two different fabrics.

This is what the reverse side looks like.  If time permits I also want to make a couple of those triangle book marks that go on the corners of the pages.

Remember the Ur Priceless blog hop?  Well the photo above was the Grand Prize for that hop...Which I WON!  Sadly,I have been sooo busy,that it never made it into a post!  YiKes!  So Sorry Madame Samm :(

I am not the photographer she is...  This is my Fabric Lottery!!!  Included in the package with the Red Thread Bundle from Andover Fabrics,were the Palace doors quilt pattern,and a cone of silver/grey Aurifil thread.  Ahhh,Fabric Love! :)  Christmas Came Early & I have been daydreaming about what to make with all this Luscious FQ Goodness.  However,there are usually a lot of QAL's to start off the New Year,so I am waiting to see what pops up,before I slice into this.

December Advent Calendar

Happy December Peeps!  Can you believe it?  Are you ready,or not?  Me neither,but hope to be soon :)

Remember this sneak peak from the other day?  Any guesses as to what they are?

How about now?!  An Advent Calendar has been on my to do list for a couple years now,well not any more!  After looking and looking some more I finally decided to make up my own pattern/version.  Overall I am very happy with how it turned out :)  The only thing I am changing is,the numbers.  The glitter paint I used was hardly visible after it dried :(  So I took it all off,what a chore that was...  So now I need to add numbers back on my little envelopes,but haven't decided what  to use yet.  (will let you know when the decision is made)  Suggestions are Welcome :)

A close-up of the first little envelope,this is before the glitter paint dried.

My advent calendar is going to have little cards in each envelope,with something to do each day :)  I made the cards from gray card stock.  All of the envelopes were made using scraps of christmas fabric! Sweet,right?  Love scrap busters,how about you?

If anyone is interested,and I have time,I might do a tutorial...

Christmas Coasters

Hey all,hope you had a super Sweet weekend :)  I managed to get caught back up on my rows (see the previous post) and get in a little Christmas sewing too!

Here are three sets of 4 Christmas coasters made from Charms out of a Blitzen Charm Pack,that I picked up while on vacation this summer!  The plan was to get four sets done,however since someone had to cook dinner,and make cookies.....

Instead of just having a plain ole charm square coaster,I decided to cut out a small tree shape and machine applique it to the front of each coaster :)  They look pretty modern,if I do say so myself!  On the back side (sorry forgot to take a photo) you can see the cute shape of the tree.

All stacked up and ready to go!  Where you ask?  Well first,they are off to Clare's Craftroom to hang out at the Under the Christmas Tree Linky party,from there they will be going over to the Linky Party Sew Darn Crafty Lastly they will be listed in my etsy shop (which you can visit via the button on my side bar).

Speaking of party's I am off to visit some party links and see what everyone has been up to!  Have a great week ahead :)

Granny squares up date & a request for Help!

After raking leaves for about an hour after work,then making dinner,I was able to head to the sewing room :)

First up the Blues,as you can see I did not just do this batch by picking the squares as they came.

The Reds,I am thinking maybe the center on the left block should have been white....

My favorite,the Greens,with some blue too!

The last one I had time for this evening,which brings my block total to 10 :)  You may have noticed that I have not added any sashing yet.  About that....  Since I purchased a jelly roll there were only four total strips of solids!  Two blue,one each red and green :(

My question to you my peeps is this....Do you have any idea,or know where I might purchase some of each of the solids (blue,red,green)?????  I have searched the Internet,to the best of my ability,to no avail !  Any help would be Greatly appreciated!!! :0)